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| Post | President pro tempore |
| Body |
the United States Senate |
| Insignia | President Pro Tempore seal.svg |
| Insigniasize | 100px |
| Insigniacaption | Official seal |
| Imagesize | 165px |
| Incumbent | Daniel Inouye |
| Incumbentsince | June 28, 2010 |
| Style | The Honorable
(Diplomatic)
Mr. President
(When presiding over the Senate) |
| Appointer | Elected by the U.S. Senate |
| Formation | U.S. Constitution
March 4, 1789 |
| Succession | Third |
| Inaugural | John Langdon
April 6, 1789 |
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The President pro tempore (c-eniconˌproʊ_ˈtɛmpəriː; or c-enˌproʊ_ˈtɛmpəreɪ; also President pro tem) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate. The United States Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and the highest-ranking official of the Senate despite not being a member of the body. During the Vice President's absence, the president pro tempore presides over its sessions or appoints another senator to do so. The president pro tempore is elected by the Senate and is customarily the most senior senator in the majority party. Normally, neither the Vice President of the United States nor the President pro tempore presides; instead, the duty is generally delegated to the junior senators of the majority party to help them learn parliamentary procedure. The president pro tempore is third in the line of succession to the presidency, after the vice president and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Daniel Inouye, a Democrat and senior senator from Hawaii, is the current president pro tempore. By Senate tradition, the Democrat next in line to become president pro tempore after Inouye is Patrick Leahy, senior senator from Vermont. The senior members of the minority party are Republicans Richard Lugar, senior senator from Indiana, and Orrin Hatch, senior senator from Utah, but they disagree as to which of them is the more senior.
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President pro tempore of the United States Senate Video
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